43 days to Camp Rantoul

Why he’s important: He can catch passes. Which will come in high supply this fall. If new offensive coordinator Bill Cubit’s system works the way the former Western Michigan coach wants it to. Rock is entering his third season with Illinois, a factor that should benefit the Minnesota native. He played minimally last season, hauling in five passes for 50 yards in four games. During the spring game, he caught two passes for 22 yards from Nathan Scheelhaase. If he could sustain those numbers this fall, he’s looking at a regular season of 24 catches and 264 yards, respectable numbers for a backup wide receiver, which is what Rock is at this point.

Fast fact: Rock graduated from Wayzata (Minn.) High School in 2009, but didn’t qualify academically. He spent a year away taking classes and working out on his own in order to enroll at Illinois, which is where he was before the start of the 2010 season.

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I toured the New England Patriots Gillette stadium weeks before it opened (it still had a software company's name on the new stadium signs but they had just declared bancruptcy) and in the PAT's locker room, on new nameplates, they had a running back with the last name of PASS. There was one more cool name at the time but I can't recall it. Might have been a linebacker.

FYI - the visitor's locker room was pathetic. About the size and look of a high school locker room. Disappointing.

However I loved everything else about the stadium, especially the Club House level dining | bar areas. Awesome stuff back in 2002.

Looking forward to the season to see the Illinois offense explode. Go Illini!